Arizona Barite Mine - Lower Salt River Recreation Area

I don't know why I delayed writing about Arizona Barite for so long. It's one of the first locations that interested me.  I'm drawn up there at least a couple of times each year.  It's really hard to miss because the highwall of the above ground section is clearly visible on the south side of Coon Bluff from Bush Highway.

According to Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources (ADMMR) documentation (now at Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS)), the mine was developed sometime in 1931 by W. F. Christman to obtain barite ore deposited along a fault running NW to SE along Coon Bluff. The highwall shown above runs along this fault. Barite is a heavy mineral used primarily in oil drilling "mud" because it helps the lubricating fluid sink during drilling. Christman obtained the original 1897 claims from owners who were earlier prospecting for silver. The mine has been known by several names over the years: Phoenix Group, Granite Reef, Chrisman Barite, Mesa Barite Claims, Macco and Granite Reef Dam.

Headframe - AZGS File 394

A 1945 survey map shows the vertical shaft reaching 320 feet and the locations of several open cuts including the southeastern one visible today from the Bush Highway.  There seems to have been a lot of correspondence during 1941-1945 concerning obtaining federal funds for operating expenses. An argument was being made regarding the need for barite to support the war effort. Mining continued until 1955 when decreased quality of the ore and heavy flows of underground water caused the operations to end.

From File 394, AZGS 

In 1970, the Forest Service notified the representative of the current claim owners of public safety hazards at the site including open shafts and thinly covered underground workings.  The letter asked for the cooperation of the owners in supporting mitigation of the hazards.  An unsigned 1982 correspondence in the AZGS (ADMMR) file indicates that the property has been bladed and shafts and pits blasted shut.

The workings must have opened up a bit over the years because by the time I was poking around the area in the mid 2000's a deep hole along the fault was clearly present.  The video below shows an opening into the workings that I recorded in 2007.

2007 Open Shaft

A covering of chain link fencing had been added by 2013

Currently the main shaft is covered by what appears to be a bat accessible cover.  It would be helpful if the Forest Service could install some sort of informational plaque to explain the design and function.

Current Shaft Covering

Hikers should be aware that there are still a few hazards left in the area.  There are two nearby prospect holes that are deep enough for a nasty fall.

Prospect Hole SW of Site

Prospect Hole SE of Site

The area is easily accessible by following a horse trail from the parking lot at the Phon D. Sutton & Bush Highway intersection.  Follow the horse trail approximately 3/8 mile east until a faint road appears to the left leading north to a pass.  The old road will lead into the mine area.


References:
Arizona Geological Survey, Arizona Barite, File 394
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, "Barite Deposits of Arizona", L.A. Stewart & A.J. Pfister, 1960, pg. 38.

Little LaDonna Prospect - Lower Salt River Recreation Area

The Little LaDonna was classified as a "prospect" by the Arizona Dept. of Mines because it probably never produced any commercial ore.  The claim includes several prospect holes and a filled-in shaft.  The records include a few notes indicating that samples were submitted in 1985 that contained copper ores.  It's no longer active since mining is now prohibited in the area.

Location of Little LaDonna shown in Google Earth

The site is located in Township 2 north, Range 7 east in the Lower Salt River Recreation Area of Tonto National Forest.  The commodities listed are copper minerals and gold.  I treat the gold claim with a lot of skepticism.  However, I have picked up samples in the area with copper stains.

Copper Oxide Stain on Quartz

The shaft originally had a partial headframe but that's been removed in the last few years.

Shaft with Partial Headframe (upper right)

There are prospects holes scattered around several of the nearby hills.  Most include quartz stained with hematite.

There's also lots of abandoned mining equipment scattered around the site.







It's an interesting area to explore but watch out for nails in lumber and various prospect holes scattered around waiting to be stepped in.

Adios

An Unrepentant Rebel: Colonel Ridley - Lower Salt River Recreation Area

Among the characters roaming the vicinity of the Lower Salt River Recreation Area, Colonel Alonzo Ridley was one of the most interesting.  As I've discussed previously, Dr. W.W. Jones lived and ranched in the Salt River and Tonto areas in the late 1800's.  The Colonel was a good friend of the Doctor and sometimes kept the Doctor company at the ranch.

Alonzo Ridley immigrated to California from Maine in 1849 seeking his fortune in the gold fields. In the 1850's, he evidently gave up on mining and moved down to the village of Los Angeles where he became an Indian agent on the Tejon Reservation. He later served as under-sheriff in Los Angeles County and it was in Los Angeles where he first met Dr. W. W. Jones.

The Colonel's most notable adventure was the escort of General Albert Sidney Johnston from California to Texas.  Albert Sidney Johnston was an experienced soldier, a graduate of West Point and recently commander of the U.S. Army's Department of the Pacific.  Johnston had resigned from the U.S. Army at the beginning of the Civil War and settled as a neutral in Los Angeles.  Eventually, Johnston feared that he would be arrested by Union authorities and so decided to travel to Texas.  Ridley chose the confederate cause while in California where he organized and commanded a militia of like minded men to escort General Johnston to Texas to join the Confederate Army.

Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Albert S. Johnston Crossing The Desert To Join The Southern Army." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1863. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-f92a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

In 1861, scouts commanded by Captain Ridley led the way across the southern California deserts and across the Colorado River at Yuma.  From the Colorado, they traveled up the Gila River to the Pima villages near present day Phoenix then down the Santa Cruz to Tucson. They continued their trek across Arizona and New Mexico while carefully avoiding Apaches and the Union Army until safely reaching El Paso where the militia was disbanded.

Ridley served as General Johnston's bodyguard at the battle for Shiloh where Johnston was fatally wounded. Afterward, he trained in Texas as an engineer and eventually became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Confederacy but he was captured at Fort Butler in Louisiana in 1863 and was imprisoned until the end of the war.

Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Retreat of the confederates from Shiloh." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1905. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-f96e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

  After the war he didn't sign the pardon agreeing to surrender but instead emigrated to Mexico and fought on the side of Maximilian in the Mexican Civil War. He lived in Mexico for several years and was employed by a British company responsible for building the Vera Cruz to Mexico City railroad.

In 1877 he returned to the states and met Dr. Jones while Jones was working a gold mill on the Hassayampa River near Wickenburg. He became good friends with Dr. Jones and resided with him many times over the years. In 1885, Dr. Jones and Colonel Ridley were described as entertaining hosts by expedition members traveling down the Salt River. The travelers had reportedly stopped for the night at the Jones ranch just above the Verde River confluence in what is now the Lower Salt River Recreation Area. It's my best guess that the ranch was located near what is now a Forest Service facility on N. Usery Pass Rd.

The Colonel didn't consider himself a citizen of the US. He was a citizen of the Empire of Mexico and referred to himself as such. However, he was required to take the oath of allegiance and become a US citizen in order to be the executor of Dr. Jone's estate in 1896. It says much of their friendship that the old rebel finally took the oath. After settling the estate, he traveled to Havana, Cuba but returned to Arizona after a couple of years. He died in Tempe in 1909 and is buried at Double Butte Cemetery.



References:
Texas Sate Historical Assoc., https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fri57

Gene C. Armistead, "California's Confederate Militia: The Los Angeles Mounted Rifles,"

Daily Phoenix Herald, June 5, 1885, "A Daring Expedition".

Arizona Republican, July 16, 1896, pg 5.

Arizona Republican, March 26, 1909

Ussery Park's Namesake: King Ussery - Salt River Recreation Area

Usery Regional Park is reportedly named after King Ussery a locally famous cowboy, livestock thief and stage robber. He was reportedly a handsome, well liked guy and he must have had some charm to get a mountain range and park named after him. He was born in 1869 and grew up in the Tonto Basin. According to some accounts, he may have also run a few stray cattle on the range near Usery Mountain and the Salt River Recreation Area. He was described in an 1899 newspaper as being "the most notorious, if not the most desperate criminal in Arizona."  No wonder they named a park after him.

In December of 1891, according to the St. Johns Herald, the Globe-Florence (Riverside) stage was stopped by a highwayman in Pinal County who demanded the express box.  He ordered the stage to proceed after being told there was no bullion aboard. The highwayman was identified as King Ussery. Ussery was a small-time cattleman in the Tonto country and according to delinquent tax notices owned a ranch 12 miles up Tonto Creek.

In January 1892, the Globe-Florence stage was again held up in Pinal County and $2,400 worth of bullion was stolen. The highwayman could not be identified but the trail of two horses was followed 50 miles to the corral of Henry Blevins (a friend of Ussery). A bar of of bullion was subsequently recovered from the nearby Salt River.  Blevins was tried by jury and released.

Ussery kept ahead of the law for a long time by hiding in the Tonto country where he grew up.  Eventually, Sheriff J.H. Johnson of Gila County caught Ussery by circling from Globe through Greenback Valley at night to Tonto and staking out King Ussery's mother's home. After capturing his brother, the Sheriff convinced King Ussery to give up. (Side note: In our Air Force orientation class in Lackland AFB back in 1974, the drill sergeant informed us that if we went AWOL he would know where to find us. "When in trouble all boys run back to their mother").  The Arizona Silver Belt also reported on the robbery and added references to Gila County horse theft and a federal charge of mail theft.

Sheriff Thompson and Frank Prothero brought 23 year old King Ussery to Globe for trial. He received a sentence of 7 years at Yuma Territorial Prison.

Yuma Territorial Prison

He was pardoned in 1894 after appeals from his mother and a review of new evidence that seemed to exonerate him. After his pardon, he evidently changed his ways and shifted to cattle rustling. He received a light sentence in Gila County for the theft and then left the area.

In 1898, Ussery was found not guilty by a jury in the robbery of the Gladiator Mill in Prescott.

In 1899, he shifted to horse stealing. He visited his uncle, a race horse breeder in the Tonto area (John L. Cline), and succeeded in convincing him to let King take a test drive. King then took off for California riding one race horse and leading another. Cline finally recovered one of the horses near the Colorado River but King continued onward with the other. When finally caught in Mammoth, AZ, Ussery was sentenced to 10 more years at Yuma.

Also in 1899, he was arrested near Cave Creek for stealing horses from Jesus Madrial in Yavapai County.

He was also under indictment in Yavapai County for grand larceny.  He was suspected of having robbed a stage several miles southwest of Prescott.  Another man was arrested and jailed for the robbery but Ussery was reported to have helped in his defense and finally admitted to the crime while in prison for the Tonto area horse theft.  The governor became suspicious of the circumstances after learning that the man and Ussery were close friends.  Instead of pardoning him he cut several years off of the man's sentence.

The Arizona Miner (Prescott) reported in July of 1903 that Ussery had sent a hand tooled bridle to Sheriff Roberts with a request for him to sell it to raise some money in anticipation of Ussery's anticipated release from prison.  The bridle was described as being black leather with silver mountings and artistically plaited leather reins. He was finally released around 1903 at the ripe old age of 33.

He must have decided to look for greener pastures after his pardon because it appears that he's buried in King Co., Washington after dying of acute pulmonary edema in 1941. After his pardon, I couldn't find any references to King Ussery, other than his obit.  His death certificate listed his occupation as "miner". Maybe he reformed.

References:
(from Library of Congress, Chronicling America website)
Arizona Republican, Friday January 29, 1892
Arizona Silver Belt, February 27, 1892
St. Johns Herald, Thursday February 4, 1892
S. Johns Herald, Thursday December 8, 1892, pg. 1
Arizona Republican, October 20, 1894, pg. 1

Arizona Republican, Friday December 22, 1899, pg. 5

Arizona Republican, Monday December 25, 1899, pg. 3
Arizona Republican, Sunday November 19, 1899, pg. 3
Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner, November 22, 1899
Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner, January 31, 1900
Arizona Republican, Wednesday June 11, 1902, pg. 1
Arizona Journal-Miner, July 1, 1903